


The Parameters of Halloween

by Lauralot



Series: Daddy Issues [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alcohol, Fluff, Gen, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Multiple Personalities, Separate bodies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 05:38:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5117501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lauralot/pseuds/Lauralot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winter Soldier is resolved to make this Halloween safe.</p><p>That would be simpler if Barnes would lay off the cider.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Parameters of Halloween

James rubs sleepily at his eyes.  The motion knocks his Captain America hood crooked on his face, so he pulls it back.  Bucky said this was Daddy’s best costume when they were putting it together.  James doesn’t remember Daddy ever wearing tights.

There’s a pile of candy on the table.  James sneaks his hand toward one of the popcorn balls, but Winter blocks him.

“You know the parameters of Halloween, _mishka_ ,” Winter scolds.  “You are not to eat the candy until I have inspected it for tampering.”  


“But we watched Pepper make these.” All the candy is from an Avengers’ Halloween party.  The Avengers wouldn’t hurt him.  


“Your safety comes before your stomach,” Winter says firmly.  Winter is dressed as Luke Skywalker.  It was Tony and Clint’s idea.  He’s Luke Skywalker from _Return of the Jedi._   Tony and Clint say that’s very important.  


Bucky Bear is an Ewok.

James considers throwing his shield on the floor—and when did Daddy ever have a shield that wasn’t round?—but he knows Winter would just frown disapprovingly, so he settles for putting his elbows on the table and sighing loudly.

“Is somebody sleepy?” Daddy asks.  Daddy’s dressed as Bob Dylan because Bucky said he should be, and he’s coming up behind James and ruffling his hair.  “It’s pretty far past your bedtime, lamb.”  


“Superheroes don’t have bedtimes.”  James doesn’t squirm away, though.  He just reaches out his other hand to grab Bucky Bear’s special Halloween snack.  It’s a little bottle of honey pumpkin butter and it’s really good on pancakes.  


But then Winter’s hand comes down on top of that too.

“The inspection applies to bear food as well,” he says.  


“Aw, let ‘em have the candy.”  Bucky comes over, bracing his hands against the table.  He’s not wearing a shirt, just a silver chain necklace, and his hair is curled.  He’s supposed to be Jim Morrison.  Bucky played a lot of Morrison and Dylan songs for James before the party, but James mostly just wanted to watch Charlie Brown and Bucky decided that he was ‘too young to have a proper reverence for the legends.’  “The Great Pumpkin’s gonna pass right over if he thinks we’re not celebratin’ properly.”  


Bucky smells a lot like the grown-up apple cider that James couldn’t have at the party.

“The Great Pumpkin comes to sincere pumpkin patches, Bucky.”  Winter gives a candy apple one last frown before he sets it in the ‘safe’ pile.  “He does not come to skyscrapers.”  


“You gonna challenge the Halloween Master?” Bucky asks.  Bucky is the Halloween Master because last week he won first place for his Bucky Barnes costume at a historical reenactment Halloween costume contest.  James is pretty sure that’s cheating, but Bucky says he deserves some fun after seventy years of captivity.  


“That is not a real position of authority,” Winter says.  “ _Mishka_ , you may have one candy.  Then you must prepare for bed.”  


“But Bucky said he was going to play the piano and get Daddy to lie on top of it and sing!”  He’d said it was an essential part of their costumes.  Performance art, Bucky had called it.  “I can’t miss that!”

“That’s not happening,” Daddy says.  His face is pink.  


So is Bucky’s, but James thinks that’s from the grown-up cider.  “Aw c’mon, Stevie,” he pleads, leaning on Daddy.  “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“You can have the candy in your room,” Winter announces, scooping James up.  “Children should not be exposed to intoxication.”  


Bucky, who is now draped across Daddy, laughs.  “I’ll have you know I’m just buzzed on holiday spirit.”  


“I will read you a Halloween picture book of your choosing,” Winter tells James.  His lightsaber bounces against his thigh as he walks.  “But first you must put on your pajamas and brush your teeth.”  


“Can it be _A Dark, Dark Tale_?”  James rubs at his eyes again.  


“Yes, _mishka_.”  Winter presses a popcorn ball into James’s palm.  “It can be whatever you like.”  



End file.
